KKR Silently Enters Into Top Fours

Sidelights:

KKR’s campaign this season was off the mark for sure. Plus their captain Gautam Gambhir was hopelessly out of touch. But since Gambhir made an opening pair with Robin Uthappa fortunes have started to favor KKR. Even Gambhir has scored three half centuries in a row and without getting noticed, the thing which is not at all associated with KKR, they have reached in the top draw of the IPL 7, but they have plenty to do before reaching the safe waters.

IPL 7 | Match 34 | KXIP Vs KKR

Venue: Barabati Stadium, Cuttack

Toss: KKR and elected to field first

Playing XIs

KXIP: Virender Sehwag, Mandeep Singh, Wriddhiman Saha, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, George Bailey, Rishi Dhawan, Mitchell Johnson, Akshar Patel, Parvinder Awana, Sandeep Sharma

KKR: Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Manish Pandey, Jacques Kallis, Ryan ten Doeschate, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Sunil Narine

Mini Score Card

KXIP 149/8 (20) Run rate: 7.45

Virender Sehwag 72 (50) | Piyush Chawla 3/19 (4)

Wriddhiman Saha 15 (9) | Morne Morkel 2/20 (4)

KKR 150/1 (18) Run rate: 8.33

Gautam Gambhir 63* (45) | Parvinder Awana 1/20 (2)

Robin Uthappa 46 (28) | Akshar Patel 0/20 (4)

Result: KKR won by 9 wickets

Points: KKR 2 (Total 8) | KXIP 0 (Total 14)

Man of the match: Gautam Gambhir (KKR)

Umpires: Nigel Llong | CK Nandan | AK Chaudhary (3^rd) | Ulhas Gandhe (Reserve)

Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle

How they played the game

Powerplay: KXIP 49 runs, 2 wickets | KKR 55 runs, 0 wickets

First 50 runs: KXIP 37 balls | KKR 34 balls

50-100 runs: KXIP 39 balls | KKR 35 balls

100-150 runs: KXIP 149/8 (20) | KKR 39 balls

EXTRAS: KKR 4 (1 B, 1 LB, 2 Wd) | KXIP 5 (2 LB, 3 Wd)

Best Partnership

KXIP: 3^rd wicket – 39 runs off 32 balls between Sehwag 25 (18) and Maxwell 14 (14)

KKR: 2^nd wicket – 82 runs off 66 balls between Gambhir 45* (31) and 36* (35)

Fours and SIXES

KXIP 17 Fours – 11 by Sehwag, 3 by Saha, 1 each by Maxwell, Miller and Johnson | 2 SIXES – 1 each by Sehwag and Johnson

KKR 18 Fours – 8 by Uthappa, 7 by Gambhir, 3 by Pandey | 1 SIX by Uthappa

Important facts about this match

• Gautam Gambhir has now scored three consecutive half centuries this season.
• This is second time KXIP has scored less than 150 runs, batting first.
• KKR is the most economical bowling team in the death overs by giving away at 8.30 runs per over.
• Shakib Al Hasan’s figures of 4-0-19-3 are identical with his figures against KXIP in the first game at UAE.
• Sehwag’s half century came after 17 innings spanning two seasons of IPL.

In the PIC: Gautam Gambhir scored his third consecutive half century

Picture Courtesy: ESPN – Cricinfo